About Us

Sand Hill Road is a privately owned, Melbourne-based hospitality group. Since founding the group in May 2000, we have owned, developed and operated 10 different hotels. We sold a few venues off along the way and we have just launched our biggest project yet, Garden State Hotel, in Melbourne’s iconic Flinders Lane.

What does Sand Hill Road do?

First and foremost, we own pubs. But beyond the pubs, we also in invest in our local communities via our charity called Karma Kegs, and we’ve also tried our hand at film-making (our first film “Kanyini” won several local and international awards and enjoyed a national cinema release, while our second film “Minnie Loves Junior” played at over 70 festivals around the world and won a heap of awards, including the prestigious Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival). Aside from that, we also own and operate our own private investment fund to help see other people’s business dreams become a reality!

Who Owns Sand Hill Road?

Doug, Tom, Matt and Andy

How did it start?

Douggie always dreamed of owning a pub – but he made the mistake of telling the rest of us. We loved the idea – so we threw in our jobs, borrowed money from mates and bought our first pub – The Commercial Club Hotel in Fitzroy (which we later sold in 2003). That first venture led us to nine others along the way (and counting).

And the venues?

We currently own and operate the Garden State Hotel, Richmond Club Hotel, Prahran Hotel, Bridge Hotel, The Terminus Hotel, The Posty and Holliava. Along the way, we have sold The Commercial Club Hotel (Fitzroy), The Loft (CBD) and the Heritage Hotel (Rockhampton).

How many more pubs to go?

We’ll continue to re-imagine and re-invent rundown pubs until the magic isn’t magic anymore. Hopefully that will never happen!

What is Laugh, Learn, Live, Love Life?

These are the five words that underpin our business. It’s a simple philosophy. It’s how we hire staff, empower staff, develop and cultivate our business. Ultimately, it’s a reminder to keep things in perspective!

How did Karma Kegs come about?

For many years we’d been trying to figure out how to link our not-for-profit work with our staff and customers. Then we nailed it. We found a way to serve our community in more ways than one. We donate over $100,000 a year via proceeds from our venues to community fundraising initiatives, struggling families and indigenous projects. We love it. Our staff love it. Our customers love it. And most importantly, the people we donate the money to love it.